Writing Wednesday: Peggy Jaeger new release, Passion's Palette

Addie’s been aMacQuire family mainstay for over 50 years.
She agreed to sit down with me today to discuss the youngest MacQuire, Serena,
and the events rolling through her life these past few months.

Me: So, Miss
O’Malley—

Addie: Call me
Addie, darlin’ girl. Every one does.

Me: (Smiling!) I
understand Serena’s come home for a visit. How’s she doing?

Addie: (Clucks
her tongue and shakes her head) Faith!
That child. I’ve told her mother more times than not that the lass works entirely too hard. She’s way
too thin for her already skinny frame and she’s got smudges under eyes. It’s
good she’s come home to roost and rest for spell.

Me: Will she be
able to rest, though? I’ve heard she’s recently gotten a commission for a mural
she’s going to paint for Downtown City Hospital’s new cancer wing, and the
dedication is in just a few months.

Addie. Aye. Well,
the lass’s definition of rest isn’t the same as most others. But she’s home and
that’s what counts, so I can put some meat on her bones and make sure she
sleeps at night in a warm, freshly laundered bed. A wonderful artist she is,
too. Many’s the painting she’s done that you have to look at twice before you
realize it’s not a photo, but an actual oil and brushes work. The child’s been
blessed by God, she has, with more talent than most. Her art’s what’s helped
her get beyond that heartbreak of her younger years.

Me: Heartbreak?

Addie: Aye. (She
clucks her tongue again, her eyes turning sad.) The lass went off to study in
Paris, France, don’tcha know, when she was a mere slip of a child. Lost her
heart and when it didn’t turn out well, we came this close to losing her, we
did. (She hold up her hand, her index finger and thumb close together).She’s never been quite the same since. I’ve
told her mother it’s just not right for such a vibrant, beautiful lass as she
to close her young heart off. Terrible afraid, she is, of getting it broken
ag’in. But, ( she breaks into a sly smile) I’m thinkin’ that’s about to change,
though,and the reason’s that new veterinarian
who’s just moved to town. She’s going’ta be gobsmacked for sure.

Me: Oh? Carvan’s
got a new veterinarian? What happened to the previous one?

Addie: Ach, David
“the walking appetite” Stapleton, you mean. Faith!
The man thinks this house is his, coming and going every day, wantin’ me to
bake and cook for him. I know he’s Tiffany’s godfather and all, but really the
man needs a wife! I’m a mite too long in the tooth to be seeing to his every
need. Now, what did you ask, darlin’? Oh, yes. The new man. He’s David’s
partner. Name’s Seamus Cleary – and did you ever hear such a name? Seamus. I must remember to ask who his
people are. He’s sure to have some in Ireland with a name such as that,
don’t’cha think?

Me: Why do you
think Serena is going to be gobsmacked by him?

Addie: Ah, there
now, darlin’ it’s just me old romantic heart that’s picturin’ it. I’ve seen the
way the man looks at Serena—as if she hung the moon and sun – and know that’s
the look of a man who’s smitten. The lass stares at him as well, when she
t’inks no one is looking. They make a fine pair, the two of them, when they’re
in the same room. This Cleary lad is all big and brawn and sunkissed. The green
in his eyes remind me of the fields back home, they do. Placid, and tranquil.
Calm. That’s what the lass needs, a man who’s calm and solid. She’s got a fine
temper, my girl has, and a wicked sharp tongue. She needs a man like Seamus to
cool those angry fires.

Me: So you think
the two of them are going to be an item? But I thought Serena had sworn off
men.

Addie: (She waves
her pudgy, gnarled hand as if swatting a fly.) Aye, she has until now. But she
just needed to find the right man to match her is all.

Me: And you think
Seamus Cleary is that man?

Addie: (Smiles,
knowingly) Well now, we’ll just have to watch and see, won’t we? ( With a wink
and nod, she laughs).

Me: Addie, you’ve
been with the MacQuire’s for quite some time, haven’t you?

Addie: Aye,
darling. Know where all the bodies are buried you could say. (She laughs and
her entire body shakes with it) I was a sixteen year old gal just off the boat
from Dublin when I got a position as nanny to Alaina. The most beautiful babe
I’d ever laid eyes upon. A shock of curly red hair the devil himself couldn’t
equal. I came with her to her new husband’s house and helped raise her two
beautiful daughters. And I’ve lived long enough to see the next generation come
about, with Tiffany. Ach, there’s a devil child for ya.Calls me the old lady behind me back and doesn’t think I know it. But for all
her serious and adult ways, the wee lass can be an absolute treasure. Powerful
good she is with horses, too.

Me: What do you think about Alaina’s new
husband, Senator Nobel?

Addie: One’a’the
foinest men I’ve ever had the pleasure t’meet. A true nobleman, he is, so he’s
aptly named, aye? And loves my girl to no end. Fell in love with her the first
moment they met and hasn’t left her side in all these years.It’s pleased I am that she finally consented
to marry the man after 10 years of his courtin’ her. And now he’s running for
the top job. President of these beautiful United States. He’s got me vote,
that’s for sure. A true and legal citizen I am these past twenty years.

Me: Well,
hopefully you’ll get your chance. I want to thank you for sitting down with me
today and giving me a little glimpse into Serena’s world. She sounds like such
a great girl.

Addie: That she is. And you’re most welcome, darlin’. Stop
by to the house, any time. I’ve always got something bakin’ or on the stove
simmerin’. The Lord above knows David Stapleton drops by any time the fancy
hits him – usually square in the stomach!

Excerpt from Passion's Palette:

Their
eyes met and Seamus registered the silent “O” of surprise on her mouth.

"I'm
sorry I startled you," he said, drawn to her as an errant moth would be to
a ghost of moonlight. "Addie told me you were out here."

Serena
reached over to her sketchpad, open at her feet, and closed it with a flick of
her toe. He was rewarded with a lengthy view of thigh as she stretched.

"Working?"

"Doodling,
mostly. I wanted to do some preliminary sketches for a commission I have."

"Mind
if I sit?" he asked, and without waiting for an answer, did.

When
he reached for the pad and said, "May I?" she shot her bare foot on
top of it.

"Sorry."
Serena reached over and grabbed the book. When it was safely tucked behind her
back, braced against the tree, she added, "I'm a little schizoid where my
work is concerned. I don’t let people see it when it’s in the planning or
beginning stages."

He
looked across at her, lifted one brow slightly, then glanced around. "This
is nice," he said. "Quiet. Peaceful."

"Private.”

A
fist of pure desire punched him in the stomach, the muscles contracting in
response to the challenge in her eyes.

"Was
there something you needed to see me about?"

He
considered her again, before replying. For someone so young she could act as
regally as the most aged dowager.

And
she was young; much younger than he was. It wouldn't do to start anything with
her. Besides, she was a client. He had to keep it professional.

But
dammit, those eyes speared right through him, impaling him with their beauty,
and were hard to ignore. As was the gentle swell and shift of her breasts with
each breath beneath her barely modest halter top. And her legs, well, just
forget about those. Legs like that
were destined to be his downfall.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

About the Author:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer
who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who
can’t live without them.

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there
is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or
ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving,
Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling
rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever
after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters,
brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their
way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely
child.

Tying into her love of families, her children's book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was
illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.

Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and first found
publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's Disease during
her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the 1990s.

In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest:
Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.

In 2017 she came in 3rd in the New England Reader's Choice contest for A KISS
UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS and is a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for
the same title.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her
local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

18 comments:

Katie - Addie asked me to tell you how pleased she was to visit with you today and for your readers and fans to get to know her a little more! She said you were "a quite, foine young lady and a bit of a fab writer!" High praise indeed from Addie!

Oh Mary Margaret/Margaret Mary [I can never remember the sequence], you've done it again: created a beautiful character reminiscent of my large Irish Catholic family. Bless you for taking me back to the good old days. Much love and luck to you!Kat

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I'm an author, editor, magazine columnist, wife, and mother to three kids and two big dogs... not necessarily in that same order each day. I try to write every day and read a book a week, but life often gets in the way.

I write romance and adventure for young adults and the young at heart, and living next to the Atlantic Ocean influences everything I write...